System restore problems

[Nuvo]

I thought I'd post this here in the hope that somebody can help me sort this problem.
My home PC is running XP Home and last night something rendered all the program links on my desktop useless. It looks like some crappy spyware has caused this.

I can't run any of the program files from there and some executables can't be launched from from there respective install folder.

I cannot run the System Restore tool to roolback to a previous checkpoint which is just the start of the problem. I created an image of the duff system drive before I restored a 2 week old image of the drive and everything works the way it should, it's only missing some work subsequent to this backup.

My plan was to then mount the image of the duff system drive and copy the more recent system restore checkpoints over to the freshly imaged drive.
Does this sound like a good approach is is there an alternative I might try?

The other problem I have is that I get an "access denied" error message when try to access the System Volume Information folder despite having admin rights and the hide system folders and system files being disabled.

I can access all other system files and folders on the drive. Can anyone help here?
I'm thinking I have registry hive problem. We'll see.

Thanks.

[Greg_S]

Its probably worth running a spyware checker to remove any other bots you have on there at your old system restore point before going further.

I normally use CCleaner
Spybot search and destroy
Lavasoft AdAware

Give those a try and see if it has helped to solve any issues

[Jamo]

Spybot, Spyblaster and Ad-aware

[Nuvo]

Hi Greg, I did that and also ran a full AV scan. I think this should give me full access rights for this folder:

cacls "driveletter:\System Volume Information" /E /G username:F

I now have full rights, so onto stage 2 . My PC is armed to the teeth with properly configured antispy/av software and a firewall. You can never be 100% secure from this crap .

For those interested, you can return to the previous setting with :
cacls "driveletter:\System Volume Information" /E /R username

[VladaS2]

I use Ewido for spyware and NOD32 for anti-virus. Works like charm, pest free for two years now.

[Nuvo]

I use Ewido for spyware and NOD32 for anti-virus. Works like charm, pest free for two years now.

I use ewido (now called AVG Antispyware) and Kaspersky AV. NOD32 is said to be the best on the market. I've always meant to try an evaluation copy. Now would seem like a good time. Thanks.